Mary Williams Walsh of the NYT reports, A New Plan for Valuing Pensions:

The board that writes accounting rules for states and cities has proposed a new approach for pension disclosures that falls far short of what some financial experts hoped, but which would still force many governments to highlight pension shortfalls they have played down.

The current standard has come under heavy fire from mainstream economists, who say it makes virtually all government pension benefits look less costly than they really are.

Government officials have granted pensions to teachers, police, judges and other public workers for years, without reflecting the true cost, analysts say. Now the bills are coming due, and in many cases there is not enough money set aside, adding to the fiscal distress across the country.

Pensions are a third-rail issue for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, and it has been working with great deliberation. Its pension project began early in 2006 but is nowhere near completion. Earlier this month, the board issued a “Preliminary Views” statement, summarizing its conclusions so far and requesting public feedback. A new standard is unlikely to take effect until at least 2013.

Fiscal hawks have been urging the accounting board to require states to measure their pension obligations at fair value. Corporations already do this when they report their pension numbers to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But state and local officials have resisted, and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board seems to have taken their objections to heart. Its new proposal would let them keep measuring their pension obligations the same way as before, with one big exception.

The rule makers want to shine a bright light on the states and local governments that routinely fail to put enough money into their pensions — places like Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — that year after year contribute less than their actuaries tell them they have to contribute to their pension funds. The accounting board wants those places to show the missing amounts on their balance sheets, not hide them in footnotes.

Further, instead of minimizing the shortfalls, those governments would have to calculate the shortfalls in a way that magnifies them.

“I think they hope this will be the disciplinary tool that will get everybody funding at the actuarial rate,” said Jeremy Gold, an actuary and economist who served on the accounting board’s pension advisory task force but who does not like the proposed new method. “They hope they will be punishing the real laggards.”

He said the board’s stated purpose was to foster correct financial reporting, not mete out punishment.

Many states and cities will be relieved at least that more far-reaching types of changes have been sidelined. They had feared a shift to fair value accounting in general and especially now, after big investment losses in 2008.

Some economists have been trying to strip down pension numbers to present something like fair value anyway. The most recent such study, by Eileen Norcross of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute, determined that if New Jersey’s state pension system disclosed its pension numbers at fair value, it would have a shortfall of $170 billion, instead of its reported $46 billion.

“This path is not sustainable,” Ms. Norcross said.

Governments and their actuaries argue that it is unfair and misleading to show them at their worst — or at any particular point in time. States and cities, after all, are fundamentally different from corporations — they do not do things like acquire each other or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In addition, while companies need to bring their pension funds to a standing stop and measure them during such events, governments never engage in such transactions, so they say there is no reason to disclose their financial status at a single time.

“I doubt anybody’s imagination is vivid enough to imagine the merger of states such as Kansas and Missouri, or Ohio and Michigan,” said Rick Roeder, an actuary and consultant in San Diego, in testimony submitted to the accounting board. “For a plan sponsor with a 50-plus-year time horizon, today’s market value can be anything but fair.”

At the heart of the dispute is the way governments gauge the value of the pensions they owe future retirees in today’s dollars — a commonplace financial calculation known as discounting. It is used to calculate things as diverse as bond prices and mortgages.

Discounting is based on an interest rate, which is supposed to reflect the riskiness and other attributes of the underlying asset. Current accounting rules tell governments to use the investment return they expect over the long term. In practice, this means most public pension funds now use about 8 percent.

Many economists criticize this practice, arguing that 8 percent reflects a fairly high degree of risk, though state pensions are guaranteed by law and are therefore virtually risk free.

Standard economic theory says they should be measured with a very low discount rate — something much closer to the rate on Treasury bonds than to the higher risk securities in most pension investment portfolios. These days, many economists think the states should be using a rate of about 4.5 percent to measure their pension obligations.

The difference — three or four percentage points — translates into hundreds of billions of dollars when applied to pension obligations.

The 50 states together reported pension obligations of $3.3 trillion as of mid-2008, and secured with assets of $2.3 trillion, according to the Pew Center on the States. But Ms. Norcross said that if the states had to report their pension obligations on a fair value basis, the number would have been $5.2 trillion.

What this means is that current liabilities of US public pension plans are heavily understated because they’re not calculated using the proper discount rate, the yield on Treasury bonds. Perhaps reporting pension obligations on a fair value basis is too onerous, but the alternative of using a higher discount rate based on an unrealistic long-term investment return is too generous and will ultimately leave taxpayers on the hook. When it comes to pension obligations, better to be safe than sorry.

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Mary Williams Walsh of the NYT reports, In Budget Crisis, States Take Aim at Pension Costs:

Many states are acknowledging this year that they have promised pensions they cannot afford and are cutting once-sacrosanct benefits, to appease taxpayers and attack budget deficits.

Illinois raised its retirement age to 67, the highest of any state, and capped the salary on which public pensions are figured at $106,800 a year, indexed for inflation. Arizona, New York, Missouri and Mississippi will make people work more years to earn pensions. Virginia is requiring employees to pay into the state pension fund for the first time. New Jersey will not give anyone pension credit unless they work at least 32 hours a week.

“We can’t afford to deny reality or delay action any longer,” said Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois, adding that his state’s pension cuts, enacted in March, will save some $300 million in the first year alone.

But there is a catch: Nearly all of the cuts so far apply only to workers not yet hired. Though heralded as breakthrough reforms by state officials, the cuts phase in so slowly they are unlikely to save the weakest funds and keep them from running out of money. Some new rules may even hasten the demise of the funds they were meant to protect.

Lawmakers wanted to avoid legal battles or fights with unions, whose members can be influential voters. So they are allowing most public workers across the country to keep building up their pensions at the same rate as ever. The tens of thousands of workers now on Illinois’s payrolls, for instance, will still get to retire at 60 — and some will as young as 55.

One striking exception is Colorado, which has imposed cuts on its current workers, not just future hires, and even on people who have already retired. The retirees have sued to block the reduction.

Other states with shrinking funds and deep fiscal distress may be pushed in this direction and tempted to follow Colorado’s example in the coming years. Though most state officials believe they are legally bound to shield current workers from pension cuts, a Colorado victory could embolden them to be more aggressive.

Colorado pruned a 3.5 percent annual pension increase to 2 percent, concluding that was the fastest way to revive its pension fund, which was projected to run out of money by 2029. The cut may sound small, but it produces big results because it goes into effect immediately. State plans vary widely, but many have other costly features, like subsidized early-retirement benefits, which could likewise be trimmed for existing workers.

Despite its pension reform, Illinois is still in deep trouble. That vaunted $300 million in immediate savings? The state produced it by giving itself credit now for the much smaller checks it will send retirees many years in the future — people who must first be hired and then, for full benefits, work until age 67.

By recognizing those far-off savings right away, Illinois is letting itself put less money into its pension fund now, starting with $300 million this year.

That saves the state money, but it also weakens the pension fund, actually a family of funds, raising the risk of a collapse long before the real savings start to materialize.

“We’re within a few years of having some of the pension funds run out of money,” said R. Eden Martin, president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a business group that has been warning of a “financial implosion” for several years. “Funding for the schools is going to be cut radically. Funding for Medicaid. As these things all mount up, there’s going to be a lot of outrage.”

Joshua D. Rauh, an associate professor of finance at Northwestern University who studies public pension funds, predicts that at the current rate, Illinois’s pension system could run out of money by 2018. He believes the funds of other troubled states — including New Jersey, Indiana and Connecticut — are also on track to run out of money in less than a decade, unless they make meaningful changes.

If a state pension fund ran out of money, the state would be legally bound to make good on retirees’ benefits. But paying public pensions straight out of general revenue would be ruinous. In Illinois’s case, it would consume about half the state’s cash every year, bringing other vital state services to a standstill.

Mr. Rauh said he thinks any state caught in that trap would have little choice but to seek a federal bailout. Bigger pension contributions and higher taxes can go only so far.

Many state officials, hoping for a huge recovery in the markets, say that such projections are too pessimistic, and that cutting benefits for future workers must suffice, given laws and provisions in state constitutions that make membership in a state pension fund a contractual relationship that cannot be breached.

Lawyers, though, are raising the possibility that those laws are being misinterpreted.

“It makes no sense to suggest that an employee who works for the state for a single day has acquired a right to have future pension benefits calculated for the next 20 to 40 years under whatever method was in effect on that single first day of service,” states a legal memorandum prepared for the Commercial Club of Chicago, which is concerned that a public pension collapse would badly damage the city’s business climate.

The club’s members include senior executives of big companies, like Boeing, Aon, Kraft, Motorola and I.B.M., that have frozen pensions or slowed the rates at which their workers build up benefits.

Some of those cuts set off titanic battles. The most famous was at I.B.M., which changed its pension plan just when many of its older workers were about to earn sharply higher retirement benefits. Aggrieved workers sued, but after a long battle, a federal appellate court found that the cuts were legal.

“An employer is free to move from one legal plan to another legal plan, provided that it does not diminish vested interests,” or the benefits workers have already earned, wrote Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. He did not distinguish between corporate employers and states.

Colorado is basing its legal defense, in part, on a 1961 state supreme court ruling that said pension cuts for current workers were allowed if “actuarially necessary,” and will argue that it applies to retirees as well. Other states may not have such legal tools.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone a different route, bargaining with the 12 unions that represent public employees. Last week four of them agreed to let the state cut its own contributions by requiring current workers to pay sharply more for the same pensions. The workers will contribute 10 percent of their pay, in some cases double the previous rate, to the state pension fund. Some other states are raising employee contributions as well, though less sharply.

In New Jersey, the administration of Gov. Christopher J. Christie recently imposed pension cuts on future hires, but has been quietly looking into whether it could also reduce the benefits that current employees expect to accumulate in the coming years.

“Can they change the benefit formula going forward? Sure. It’s not etched in stone,” said Edward Thomson III, an actuary and trustee of the New Jersey pension system who was asked to offer an opinion on whether New Jersey could adopt the federal pension law — the one that covers companies — as its governing statute.

A state assemblyman, Declan J. O’Scanlon Jr., recently introduced a bill to ratchet back a 9 percent pension increase that the state gave most workers in 2001.

“I think this will pass constitutional muster,” Mr. O’Scanlon said. “Otherwise, I fear the whole system will fall apart. Nine years — we’re out of money.”

Politics & pensions are never a good mix. And if you think this is just a US problem, think again. In Ireland, Fiona Reddan of the Irish Times reports that three-quarters of defined-benefit pension schemes in red. In England where Chancellor George Osborne just announced draconian 25% budget cuts, Tim Shipman of the Mail reports, Prepare for war of strikes over pay freeze and pensions say the public sector brothers.

I’ve been warning all of you to prepare for global pension war. It will hit private and public sector pensions, ruining retirement dreams, forcing workers to work longer than they planned for, solidifying deep antipathies that common workers have with the financial oligarchs who got away with billions in bonuses and bailouts. Politicians at the G20 be warned: hell hath no fury like a pensioner scorned.

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Bloomberg Businessweek reports, Baltimore proposes pension reforms; unions against:

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has proposed several changes to the pension system for police officers and firefighters.The city faces a $121 million budget deficit, and that number would balloon to $185 million without pension reform. Rawlings-Blake says the city can’t afford the cost of maintaining the current system.

Under the mayor’s plan, officers and firefighters would be forced to work 25 years, instead of 20, before they can retire with full pension benefits – about half their salary. The change would apply to officers and firefighters with less than 15 years of service.

The city police union opposes that change, saying it violates officers’ contracts. The police and firefighters’ unions have sued the city over its handling of the pension system.

The unions are not taking this sitting down. Julie Scharper of the Baltimore Sun reports, Police, fire unions sue city over pension:

Baltimore’s police and firefighters’ unions filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court Thursday, contending that officials “knowingly underfunded” their pension plan over the past decade — ignoring the advice of financial experts hired by the city.

The lawsuit threatens to introduce a protracted and costly legal battle into the emotionally charged debate about altering the retirement benefits paid to public safety officers.

If officials do not make drastic changes to the pension system by July 1, the city will owe $65 million that it cannot pay.

Union leaders, who stress the dangerous and grueling nature of police and fire work, have resisted the pension changes that the city has proposed, saying they constitute a violation of their contract.

“Some in city government are portraying this as a crisis,” said Bob Sledgeski, president of the firefighters union. “This has been long, ongoing neglect on the part of the city to follow their own experts’ advice. That’s not an accident, and 10 years does not a crisis make.”

City Council members, led by Helen L. Holton, chairwoman of the taxation and finance committee, have been scrambling for a solution to the pension problem before the fiscal year ends June 30.

Scores of police and firefighters have threatened to resign or retire if their benefits are significantly diminished. But city officials, grappling with a $121 million overall budget shortfall, say they cannot pay much more than the currently allotted $101 million pension contribution, although the city’s required obligations would be about $166 million if no changes are made in the way benefits are calculated.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, names the mayor and City Council, pension board members, city finance director Edward J. Gallagher and public safety pension system director Thomas P. Taneyhill as defendants. In it, the unions allege that from 2003 to 2008, pension board members and city officials disregarded repeated recommendations by actuaries to reduce the pension fund’s assumed rate of return because it would have forced the city to contribute millions more to the plan.

Is this one of many lawsuits over mismanaged pensions? I think so. But the reality is that both the city and the unions will need to concede something as they try to resolve this issue. During times of fiscal restraint, there isn’t much of a choice.

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recruitment10.JPG
Image cisc1970 For Immediate VeröffentlichungPR-281 to 067th in August 2006Bürgermeister Bloomberg and Commissioner Scoppetta fire KICK OFF recruitment barracks “The best job in the world has the best performance in the world” Firefighters FDNY campaign covers various advertising campaign background of television, radio and print will begin in August – Full outreach and recruitment campaign already in full GangeDie Submission for fire Firefighter exam opens heuteEin year after investing unprecedented 0.2 million of New York City Fire Department, recruitment and Diversity Unit and the first day of the open platform for examining firefighter, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta today launched the campaign to recruit new FDNY – “. Has the best job in the world, the best performance in the world”, which provides the growing diversity within the department, the firefighters of FDNY campaign, the benefits of membership of recruits for the department including flexible work schedules, generous benefits and the ability to retire after 20 years of service. Coupled to a campaign Information on intensive career fairs across the city, sports clubs, schools, churches and cultural events, will begin an innovative advertising campaign on television, in newspapers and on radio later this month . The Mayor and Fire Commissioner were joined by the Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, president and chief creative officer of Arnell Arnell Group, Peter, members of the FDNY fraternal organizations and other FDNY officials on the engine 231/Ladder 120 barracks in Brownsville. “The strength of the fire is its members and increase the diversity of FDNY firefighters, the largest increase in the world,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “This new campaign to tell the public what that firefighters have long known -., is a firefighter, a big job with a big impact with flexible hours and generous benefits after retirement, firefighters have the possibility of exceptionally good balance between work and family, we. want this message to young people in our city who may have seen before public service. Take a second look, to answer the call and become one of New York Bravest. “” Everyone knows that to save the lives of firefighters for life “said Commissioner Scoppetta. “This campaign highlights the lesser known side of employment – that firefighters throughout the medical care, flexible work schedules, a pension after 20 years and significant growth opportunities for the occasion comes that once every four years – .. You provide are safe, “The new campaign consists of eight print advertisements in four different languages ​​(English, Spanish, Korean and Chinese), one of TV spots and three radio commercial in English and Spanish products. Print ads will be placed in newspapers, on billboards, in subways and buses in the city. TV and radio spots will go up on local stations in the open test period, by 7 August to October 13 laufen.Neben being execution of targeted advertising, you will contact interested candidates to learn to navigate the application process. support the recruitment unit has a phone bank in Iceland Long City to answer questions and define the Additional information about the candidates. The department also offers free tutorials in all five boroughs for the written test. physical training programs is through an ongoing partnership with the New York Sports Club are available. Free access to training facilities physics at the Fire Academy on Randall Department Iceland stehen.Die also available on Citywide Administrative Services provides the firefighter exam once every four years. This year, the pool of candidates expected to win with the evolution educational needs that make it expand individuals with 15 university credits, full-time U.S. military with an honorable discharge, or at least six months full-time, satisfactory work experience the opportunity to spend the examination. The platform will open from 7 August – its October 13. A written exam is held in January 2007, followed by a physical examination instead. Often it can take up to three years before the candidate is required to join the department. In an effort to better prepare incoming recruits, fire the course of 13 weeks at the Academy of verlängern.Im last year, the City and the FDNY combined with a 0.2 unprecedented dollars in annual funding available to expand the recruitment and diversity unit. Recruitment and Diversity Unit FDNY employs 13 full time employees and 37 uniformed personnel described the device. The Department uses also an additional 276 firefighters and emergency services, overtime pay to staff recruitment events throughout the city. In recent years, recruitment efforts were only open during the rest period every four years aligned. This funding will support recruitment efforts throughout the year to attract and retain potential firefighter candidates in periods between Einreichung.Im compared to the previous decade, the fire department, the hiring rate for minorities has tripled from 5% to 15%. In 2005 and 2006 alone the number to nearly 20% of all classes Firefighter probation increased. More recently, the last class to attend the Fire Academy in July the minority of more than 21%, with 14% Hispanic, 5% African American, 2% Asian, and a firefighter on a sample of American expansion Hintergrund.Der unit The recruitment department has also sent, allowing fire crews to more than 1,500 community events since January 2006. Fire Commissioner and head of the department also handle recruitment activities, speaking in churches and community groups during the year. FDNY recruitment teams to participate in career fairs, talk groups and neighborhood associations, local universities and other cultural events throughout the five boroughs. The unit has averaged about 50 events per week and were more than 33,000 names of all interested persons. Of this group, 80% of applicants are minorities and nearly 25% Frauen.Die Arnell Group in collaboration with members of the department, created the new recruitment campaign largely on the recommendations of the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs FDNY diversity study. The study, conducted from 2003 to 2004 at the request of the Department, noted that audiences were more receptive to the request to become a firefighter after learning basic information on wages, benefits and flexible hours. Arnell Group collects this information with the campaign theme, “The best job in the world, the best performance in the world. “All services by the Arnell Group for the creation, production and placement of the advertising campaign were provided without charge. The first FDNY recruitment campaign in 2002,” Love Is You “, was also free of charge created by the Arnell Group.

recruitment14.JPG
Image cisc1970 For Immediate VeröffentlichungPR-281 to 067th in August 2006Bürgermeister Bloomberg and Commissioner Scoppetta fire KICK OFF recruitment barracks “The best job in the world has the best performance in the world” Firefighters FDNY campaign covers various advertising campaign background of television, radio and print will begin in August – Full outreach and recruitment campaign already in full GangeDie Submission for fire Firefighter exam opens heuteEin year after investing unprecedented 0.2 million of New York City Fire Department, recruitment and Diversity Unit and the first day of the open platform for examining firefighter, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta today launched the campaign to recruit new FDNY – “. Has the best job in the world, the best performance in the world”, which provides the growing diversity within the department, the firefighters of FDNY campaign, the benefits of membership of recruits for the department including flexible work schedules, generous benefits and the ability to retire after 20 years of service. Coupled to a campaign Information on intensive career fairs across the city, sports clubs, schools, churches and cultural events, will begin an innovative advertising campaign on television, in newspapers and on radio later this month . The Mayor and Fire Commissioner were joined by the Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, president and chief creative officer of Arnell Arnell Group, Peter, members of the FDNY fraternal organizations and other FDNY officials on the engine 231/Ladder 120 barracks in Brownsville. “The strength of the fire is its members and increase the diversity of FDNY firefighters, the largest increase in the world,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “This new campaign to tell the public what that firefighters have long known -., is a firefighter, a big job with a big impact with flexible hours and generous benefits after retirement, firefighters have the possibility of exceptionally good balance between work and family, we. want this message to young people in our city who may have seen before public service. Take a second look, to answer the call and become one of New York Bravest. “” Everyone knows that to save the lives of firefighters for life “said Commissioner Scoppetta. “This campaign highlights the lesser known side of employment – that firefighters throughout the medical care, flexible work schedules, a pension after 20 years and significant growth opportunities for the occasion comes that once every four years – .. You provide are safe, “The new campaign consists of eight print advertisements in four different languages ​​(English, Spanish, Korean and Chinese), one of TV spots and three radio commercial in English and Spanish products. Print ads will be placed in newspapers, on billboards, in subways and buses in the city. TV and radio spots will go up on local stations in the open test period, by 7 August to October 13 laufen.Neben being execution of targeted advertising, you will contact interested candidates to learn to navigate the application process. support the recruitment unit has a phone bank in Iceland Long City to answer questions and define the Additional information about the candidates. The department also offers free tutorials in all five boroughs for the written test. physical training programs is through an ongoing partnership with the New York Sports Club are available. Free access to training facilities physics at the Fire Academy on Randall Department Iceland stehen.Die also available on Citywide Administrative Services provides the firefighter exam once every four years. This year, the pool of candidates expected to win with the evolution educational needs that make it expand individuals with 15 university credits, full-time U.S. military with an honorable discharge, or at least six months full-time, satisfactory work experience the opportunity to spend the examination. The platform will open from 7 August – its October 13. A written exam is held in January 2007, followed by a physical examination instead. Often it can take up to three years before the candidate is required to join the department. In an effort to better prepare incoming recruits, fire the course of 13 weeks at the Academy of verlängern.Im last year, the City and the FDNY combined with a 0.2 unprecedented dollars in annual funding available to expand the recruitment and diversity unit. Recruitment and Diversity Unit FDNY employs 13 full time employees and 37 uniformed personnel described the device. The Department uses also an additional 276 firefighters and emergency services, overtime pay to staff recruitment events throughout the city. In recent years, recruitment efforts were only open during the rest period every four years aligned. This funding will support recruitment efforts throughout the year to attract and retain potential firefighter candidates in periods between Einreichung.Im compared to the previous decade, the fire department, the hiring rate for minorities has tripled from 5% to 15%. In 2005 and 2006 alone the number to nearly 20% of all classes Firefighter probation increased. More recently, the last class to attend the Fire Academy in July the minority of more than 21%, with 14% Hispanic, 5% African American, 2% Asian, and a firefighter on a sample of American expansion Hintergrund.Der unit The recruitment department has also sent, allowing fire crews to more than 1,500 community events since January 2006. Fire Commissioner and head of the department also handle recruitment activities, speaking in churches and community groups during the year. FDNY recruitment teams to participate in career fairs, talk groups and neighborhood associations, local universities and other cultural events throughout the five boroughs. The unit has averaged about 50 events per week and were more than 33,000 names of all interested persons. Of this group, 80% of applicants are minorities and nearly 25% Frauen.Die Arnell Group in collaboration with members of the department, created the new recruitment campaign largely on the recommendations of the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs FDNY diversity study. The study, conducted from 2003 to 2004 at the request of the Department, noted that audiences were more receptive to the request to become a firefighter after learning basic information on wages, benefits and flexible hours. Arnell Group collects this information with the campaign theme, “The best job in the world, the best performance in the world. “All services by the Arnell Group for the creation, production and placement of the advertising campaign were provided without charge. The first FDNY recruitment campaign in 2002,” Love Is You “, was also free of charge created by the Arnell Group.

23/05/2011: Governor Chafee talks with the report of the Treasurer General of pensions to the Crossroads RI
peak year rigovernor

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The PPF of the new tax Pension Protection Framework will take effect from 2012/13. That is, if taxpayers receive their bills in the fall of 2012, they will see new notes and, more importantly, changes in how their bills were calculated. This webcast will help them prepare for the changes so that when their bills arrive, they are

such as law and what the tax payers expect.

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best photos I’ve found:

“Citizenship is a tough profession that requires citizens to make their own informed opinion and stick to it.” ~ Martha Gellhorn
year’s summit eyewashdesign A. Golden New York to protest against the US0 billion (U.S. $ trillion) Wall Street Bailout: Wall Street, New York – September 25 2008Phototgrapher: design golden eye , – c. 2008.Freunde, The richest 400 Americans – that’s right, only 4 to 100 people – more than the combined bottom 150 million Americans! of 400 richest Americans spent more than half of across the country hidden! Their combined wealth is $ 0.6 billion. In the eight years of the Bush administration has increased its assets to nearly 0 billion – the same amount they requested that they are given to explain why they do not just spend money, according to the “bailout.” To save Bush from himself? leave They still distribute nearly one billion dollars over, they are not under the do not – at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a surplus when Bill Clinton 7000000000 resigned. Because money was our money and not him, he did what rich prefer to do – spend it and never again. Now we have a 0.5 trillion debt, the seven generations to recover from which is. Why – on – a – soil type – our – “representative” This – Barone – Raiders US850 billion – of – OUR – Last week, my own money the proposed bailout?. My suggestions, listed below, were based on single, simple belief that the rich must be established by their own means of platinum. Sorry, guys, but it drilled into our heads one too many times: there is no … …… … FREE Lunch Time ~ of! And I thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So it should not be benefits from U.S. FOR YOU! Last Friday, after voting against the bailout, in a turn of events without predecessor, the flip flop house, his “no” and said “yes” in an advanced version of a vote of “rescue” bill. Despite the people, the massive rejection of the bailout bill … Despite the millions of calls from people in Washington Crashing “representative” “… despite falling Sites OUR PHONE politician lines … Despite hundreds of thousands protest across the country … They voted for the bailout! The first people on Monday, with the Chamber was successful, but failed to do so with the Senate then rejected the house WE HAVE BEEN! It is clear, but we can not just keep protesting without this respect is exactly what we think it is this idiot has / have done / a. So, after consulting a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, is the proposal, now known as “Mike has a rescue plan.” (From bailout Michael Moore) It has 10 simple , Direct Points are that you do not, but should be able to:. 1. appointed a special prosecutor, who prosecuted the indictment anyone on Wall Street who knowingly contributed to the collapse before the new money was spent, if Congress has the resolution to the criminal track everything that had anything to do with the attempted looting of our economy. This means that each person, insider trading, fraud securities or any action which contributed about this fall are committed and should go to jail! This Congress should for a special prosecutor who vigorously after each, the chaos would be created, and anyone who tries to scam the public have called in the future. (I like to play Elliot Spitzer of ~ a little hanky-panky … Wall Street hates him and that’s a good thing.) 2 The rich pay for their own bailout! you can live in 5 houses instead of 7. You have to drive 9 cars instead of 13 maybe. leader of their mini-terriers must be reallocated. But there is no way in hell, after forcing the incomes of families to go down to 000 dollars during the Bush years, which should have people working and middle class to pay a penny for the next boat she really needs to purchase unterschreiben.Wenn 0000000000 they say they need, well, here’s a simple way, they could carry: a) Both makeing a million dollars a year and each taxpayer, as of 0000 one year was to make an additional tax of 10% for five years to pay. (It’s the Senator Sanders plan. He’s like Colonel Sanders, only he is to fry the right chickens.) This means that the rich are even fewer have been paying taxes when Carter was president. This would increase total 0000000000.b) as almost all other democracies, it should be a tax of 0.25% levied on each transaction have bearings. It would be more than 0 billion a year collected in haben. c) Because each shareholder is an American patriot, shareholders should receive a dividend check for one quarter have given up the place and the money would go to help state coffers, the bullsh * t to pay Rettungsaktion.d ) 25% of large U.S. companies currently pay no income tax. Federal corporate tax revenues currently amount to 1.7% of GDP, compared to 5% in the 1950s. When we have raised the tax BACK in the 1950s, it would give us an additional 0000000000.All this combination would be enough to stop the catastrophe. The rich get to their homes and their servants and our government to maintain the U.S. (“a country!”) had a little left over, some roads, bridges and repair schools, would be … You save 3 people lose their homes, not people, build a home eighth ! There are 1.3 million households in foreclosure now. This is what is the heart of the problem. So instead of giving money to banks as a gift, they should be down to one These mortgages are paid from 0000. They should force banks to renegotiate the mortgage again, would have to pay if the owner to its current value. To ensure that this aid is not for speculators and those who make money by flipping houses tries to leave, should have been the bailout for people who are primary residences. And, in return for the 0K to repay the existing mortgage comes from the government, to share ownership of the mortgage have, so it might get some of his money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its roots (instead of the greedy lenders) is not 0 billion, 0000000000 .. And let us be clear conditions for people who are not in default on their mortgages “bad risks” They are our fellow Americans, and all it wanted was what we all want:. a home of their own is lost to fall. But during the Bush years, has lost millions of people, the descent had a paid job. SIX MILLION fallen in poverty! SEVEN MILLION of their health insurance! And since each of them their real wages, 000! Those who look down on DARE made those Americans who were taking a break after another poor should be ashamed. We are a better society , stronger, safer and happier when all our citizens can afford to live in a house they besitzen.4. He had an agreement that if your bank or corporation GOT ALL of our money in a “plan Rescue “We would then own YOU. Unfortunately, this is how it goes. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house bank” owns “the house until I pay all – with great interest .. even for Wall Street Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk – and necessary for the good of the country – then you can get a loan, but if you have, if you default, we will sell you this is how the Swedish government did it and funktionierte.5 ALL rules should have been restored … summer. The Reagan revolution is dead! This disaster occurred because we have the fox the keys to the henhouse. In 1999, Phil Gramm passed a bill to remove all regulations written governed Wall Street and our banking system. Law passed and Clinton signed it is here that Sen.Phil Gramm, McCain’s chief economic adviser, said the signing of the bill. “In the 1930s … it was believed that the government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth of government was the abolition of the functioning of free markets. “We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that the government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by competition and freedom. “I am proud to be here, because this is important legislation, it is a deregulatory bill. I think the wave of the future, and I’m terribly proud to be part of what you have reality. “While this does not happen again, you should have withdrawn the bill! Bill Clinton could have helped by efforts to repeal the Gramm and the restoration of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when they were done with that, if they should be regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, the oil industry, OSHA, and others, our lives have restored the influence. had all regulatory standards for all sums “rescue” application attached to them and criminal There are consequences to all Straftäter.6. If it is too big to fail, then that is to say, it’s too big! Thus, the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the laws of monopoly and antitrust are a number of financial institutions and businesses has a great thought that highly of their collapse in an even greater downturn in the economy. Not one or two companies should never mean that kind of power! The so-called “economic Pearl Harbor” can not pass when have hundreds, thousands – of institutions. where people have their money, if we have a dozen auto companies, if one goes belly up, we have not before a national disaster, if we have three separately-owned daily newspaper in your town, then we can not call all media companies shots (I know … What do I think? Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and acquisitions, leaving us with a strong and “free” press!) . laws should have put in place for companies as large and dominant that with one slingshot to prevent the eye drops and dies GIANT. And no institution should be possible to set up money schemes that no No one knows her. If you can not explain it in two sentences, should not attend someone money! seventh NO executive never to 40 times their average employee will be paid, and no leader, no ‘ any type of “parachute” but the generous salary SE OR you have made to receive while working for the company. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 times what their workers made. In 2003, they made 254 times that their workers. After eight years of Bush, they now have 400 times what their employees are on average do. As we have admitted this is done in companies beyond reason. to the UK, the CEO average 28 times what their average employees make. In Japan, there is only 17 times! The last thing I heard was the CEO of Toyota in the lap of luxury, to live Tokyo. How does he do so little money? Seriously, it’s a scandal! Do we have a salad, by the people we are the top off becomes bloated beyond belief in the creation of millions of dollars. be! Not only should the Executive help you benefit from this mess of it receives, but any officer who was responsible for the management of his company into the ground should FLAME before the company receives assistance sein.8. Congress The FDIC has strengthened and made him a model not only to protect people’s savings, but also their pensions and their homes. Obama voted to propose extending FDIC protection of people’s savings in their banks in 0000. But has this same kind of government, our insurance to see if ever the money they put on for his age, he will be given to worry. This should be stricter government oversight of companies, this meant their employees have to handle money – or maybe it means that the company would have forced him to run on these funds and their management to the government of the People’s private insurance must also be protected, but perhaps it is time to think not one that he retired at the casino? The stock investment known? Our government should guarantee a sacred duty, no one who grows old in this country to become worried about the poor hat.9. Everyone needs to breathe deeply, calm down and not let fear rule the day. Turn on your TV, we are not in the second Great Depression. The sky is not falling, Chicken Little! experts and politicians have lied to us so fast and FURIOUS is hard not affected by the campaign of fear to be. In addition, I wrote and repeated what I heard on the news last week that the Dow had the biggest drop in one day in its history. Well, it was okay in terms of points, but its 7% drop was not close to Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% their value. not withdraw in the 80 banks closed 3000, but America out of business. These institutions have always been ups and downs and eventually it works. It should not because the rich n ‘not like their wealth is interrupted, your best interest to calm things down and even more in their whirlpools before they hatch in their millions of sheets of high quality to drift in a vodka tonic, peaceful and Ambien-induced sleep by. As crazy as things are now, tens of thousands of people a car loan last week. thousands of people at the bank and got a mortgage to buy a house. college students simply rediscovered banks more than happy, placed in the ankle for the next 15 years with a student loan. I’ve even been approved for a personal loan already everyone. Yes, life on the road with little or no change – (except for the unemployment rate of 6.1% a lot, but it’s happened in the last month) is gone. not lose a single person throughout his / her money in the bank or treasury note or a CD. And this is perhaps the most amazing thing that the American public not to buy, after all the fear mongering? … do not blink, citizens, instead of saying that taking bailout congress and push It was impressive, why people succumb to the horrors filled warnings from their president and his paladins Well, we can only say: “Saddam has the bomb” seen so many times before the people, you ‘re a lying sack of shit. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and can no more. The world is brought to face any and I give them Schuld.10. you should have a national bank, “the People’s Bank.” have created, because they are really itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of some rich people, why do not we put ourselves ? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not a national bank established? One that can provide low interest loans for all types of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come with cure against cancer or create the next. great invention And now we have AIG – biggest insurer of the nation – we will move to the next step and provide health insurance for everybody health insurance for all them we can save as much money in the long term (not to mention peace of mind, each of them.! be). And America is not 12 on the list of life expectancy, we are able to have a longer life, enjoying our government protected pension, and live to see the day when the corporate criminals who caused much misery in it to leave the prison, so that we can help you re-acclimate to the good old ordinary civilian life – a life with a beautiful home and a gasoline car with help from People’s Bank erfunden.PS Call your Senators NOW! -> www.visi.com/juan/congress/ As against the existence of the extension of unemployment benefits agreed and jumped out of the “campaign” for us to be reelected … call them and tell them you will vote for the other “guy” if they do not get their act together! —- ————————————————- START UPDATE: The people elected a historic moment “. A work in progress” November 4, 2008 ——> The historic election <—— November 4th 2008.Eine great American leader said yet “As individual fingers we can easily be broken. But together we make a powerful punch. “These words were spoken by a minority leader. He was Chief Sitting Bull venerable No, it’s not Barack Obama the first American minority eloquent, and it surely will not last. Although at the end the election was not even close! The world watched transformed “YES WE CAN!” in “Yes we did!” As ringing “Yes, we must!” The time is NOW! What -what we do with this moment puts the United States,. straight out of American descent elected as president -. America now has a man with a background of partial African elected a new leader with roots from Kenya in Kansas (with a stepfather from Indonesia), will be in collaboration with the Vice-President. Anglo-European roots it’s something where people of all races, are happy to talk loud and race Why race is important because you can bet -.? both here and around the world, “as it or not .. – Race dominates our daily lives and reigns for thousands of years, because: “To know where we go, we must first know where we were,” We have come a long way baby What was once considered “acceptable”! 1965 is no longer in 2008 and Glück.Dies is a changing of the guard. Especially since 40 percent of the U.S. population is considered a “minority” to be. only four generations, the oppression of African slaves created by the Anglo-Saxons hundreds of thousands of brothers to brothers in a bloody battle that killed viscous and the fundamentals of the constitutional republic of reality rhetoric has changed. It was also an important period Wachablösung.Zum first in the country’s history were the ancestors of these people themselves who so passionately fought for slavery today voted overwhelmingly in favor of a minority leader. It also opens a new chapter in American history. This is a huge reference for these great American leaders before us who risked everything so that we arrive at the right moment in time. We have to cross through these men and women who gave tirelessly and selflessly to both their lives and to help them along racial, sexual and social break in the history of the United States of America entered geben.Es has now taken place there is a significant new hope for a better future – .. a hope which is the same limitations possibly disabling it will be cleared once and for all, but it is also wise to remember the saying “actions speak louder than words”. and our rhetoric must be translated into the action, the ability to meet very different and not just talking about do we learn a lot from our long and continuous journey, when we say the old North American Indians, remember. “We do not inherit the earth our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. “We can be a real Chance.Das people have spoken! A record 130 million Americans came into Tuesday’s election, Barack Obama in the story written in a wave-tide of Democratic votes to win. polling suggests voters came in record numbers because of growing concerns about the economy, employment, health care, energy, and the war in Iraq. offensichtlich have the Obama administration and the new Democratic majority in Washington in a time of profound change in our lives -. different from Wall Street to Main Street shows Yes, now hesitated about human possibility, and let’s face it, we might Just a bit of decency in the moment more important verwenden.Vielleicht? is, speaks volumes about this time, because it is a total repudiation of the policy right from fear and greed will now take decades ago Another Republican majority in Congress, but the words have never been. “Ask not what your country for you, but what you can do for your country” seemed more to so many. Because we are, our country. And we are at a major crossroads. Where, oh where do I start? Obama / Biden campaign. Here in New York, threw Working Families voters, members, partners, supporters and leaders do everything they chapter in critical campaigns that have successfully demonstrated, many are now exhausted, and understandably so -. more than a little proud of what has been achieved. And the results were excellent ~ if not historical. For the first time since mid-1930, the State Senate NOT be controlled by Republicans. It is now in the hands of families a working Democratic majority! Just Take A time-and drink-what-to MASSIVE. Democratic majorities in both Houses and the Senate! Overall WFP has built a strong partnership with the Democrats in the Senate, to knock over half a million doors for progressive change. And at the end “We the People” respond with overwhelming support. This is an important step. There is now a renewed sense of hope real body resonance of Washington, and even the world. This is powerful. Because without hope, there is simply nothing to gain. However, we must be careful not to fall prey to disillusionment. When people tear illusions and disillusions of almost kills the human spirit. In other words, they shared the conquest, united we stand. It is this historical moment in the Native American Indian month is announced about. We must not forget that accorded very real basis for this country idealist and a tribute to 500 years of the struggle of our peoples rights to First Base to them in our own Constitution. Obama’s victory is a victory indeed. the masses, precisely because its success reflects the masses instead of a small wealthy elite and the power it is a very sensitive so electrifying.! “Finally,” was heard the phrase, “to wake up Wednesday with the world world.The real possibility of a very rare opportunity – the best in most of our lives. This is an opportunity, real change Amerika.Aber not to forget the harsh realities that exist in this country possible. Just ask a woman … not a “person of color” … or, the indigenous peoples living in this “great” country. For as long as the Indians in this country still live in the containment policy in the reserves, without the basics like running water, electricity, heat or … while over 75% of inmates are African-Americans and First Peoples Taino … as long as we allow our taxes continue to spend three times more prisoners per capita for each of these to the education of their own children … as long as American women still earn less than men for equal work … as long as we can privately, there are no extremely important reform … as long as we allow our children to a foreign soil, to kill and be killed in “our” names continue to trample … while we sit idle and expect to be sent to “do the right thing” for us … unless we actively work on the challenge and fight for our own well-being for the benefit of future generations … as long as we choose to remain ignorant and in denial, our mistakes … TRUE to change, and never will any passieren.Obwohl how rare and unique, we must first correct the time to honor … Thank you to everyone who came before us, without their dedication and sacrifice, to give this moment possible. We must unite. Immediate formulation and a real plan to guard and protect, that time is necessary with grim determination. The new leaders are needed, so we created moments like this and ensure the rule, not just as characters from Fluke. If we turn to Tuesday, results in a real break from the wreckage of the immediate past three years, HOPE – We must begin by realizing that choice is just that – a start. This is a discussion of our long and continuous Kampf.Und, second round is just as difficult, it is not. Can stay in the race easy to forget when people die from inadequate health care when they found themselves in the streets for lack of shelter and how they are increasingly desperate due to lack of jobs. Just ask the people of Amerindian or African ancestry. Or, one of our homeless veterans living on the streets of America Überflusses.Ja, the house of cards fell hard and fast. And, President / VP Barack Obama and Joe Biden have inherited many seemingly insurmountable challenges. REAL CHANGE – not rhetoric – is that what he needed. And to get it, we must demand it. We walk and MUST be watchdogs for future generations. Communication with our politicians is a must. Above all, we must stand together and be ready to fight to protect what is right and what is good for the majority, not the wenigen.UNITED we stand, divided fall wir.Ein President Obama to be supported and promoted at the same time. His training as a social worker is a trust, that he not only understand, but should also expect that this dynamic. It is imperative for us, the faithful in the sense of “follow the money” strategy. Remember, President Obama made history twice, by the unprecedented amount of dollars over the campaign in the history of the U.S. presidential election. According to CNN, on an annualized basis, the Obama campaign spending on post-primary presidential campaign would come to US0 million. The two main sponsors of the Democratic and Republican national conventions – This amount is only with large companies like Verizon and AT & T announced the beginning of October überschritten.Zu the Democratic National Committee raised with millions of dollars in U.S.. 9 US5 bank.
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the nation’s municipal pension plans carry financial burdens of $ 4 billion, and more nearly billion in unfunded pension liabilities. Amber Dakar examined these deficits that threaten the viability of local services video review. 5/5

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: www.newzzcafe.com Many pension plans, the largest in America are means performance expectations of grease on the stick could leave their investments, even after a decade of poor profits, the U.S. plans to retire before a financial hole even deeper and taxpayers on the hook for huge additional contributions. The median return on investment expected for the funds of the United States over 100 public pension interviewed by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators remains 8%, unchanged from 2001, according to the association. Country’s 15 largest public pension systems have an expected average yield of 7.8%, and only a handful have changed recently, or review, this return assumptions, according to a survey of these funds by the Wall Street Journal. Video Rating: 5/5

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Ashley Taylor
image Images href = “http://www.flickr.com/photos/40523566@N08/6869102969″> Senior Manager, Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs , Friends for Life Please consider the environment before the pressure of this e-mail contains confidential information and / or copyrighted material. This e-mail and its contents are confidential to the addressee only. Any unauthorized use may be illegal if you have received this email in error please delete immediately notify the sender by reply facility in your email software, this Life and email friends is a trade name the life of the company following Friends: Friends of the life and pensions limited number 475201Freunde Life Company Limited Company number 4096141Freunde Life Marketing Limited Company number 5059179Freunde Life Investment Solutions Company limited 6389025Friends Pension Insurance Direct Life Solutions Limited Company Number 3917594Freunde The Blue Line Company Limited service life limited number 3146254Freunde 3424940Freunde BN Life Insurance Company Limited Company number 3291349Freunde Life Assurance Society Limited Company Limited Company number 776273Freunde 6363657Jede number of company pensions above is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority are reguliert.Die following companies are not licensed or regulated by the Financial Services Authority: Friends Management Services Company Limited Life Company number 983330Suntrust number 1460956Jedes company registered in England with a seat Pixham End, Dorking, Surrey RH4 1QA.Besuchen www.friendslife.co.uk our services online can help you

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